Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Post #103: TWD French Yougurt Cake

From TWD Yogurt Cake

It is a lovely Spring Day here in Houston, Texas. We woke up to a overcast, misty day, but now are enjoying a wonderfully 75F, clear, and sunny day! The world is such a beautiful place on a day like today. To Norman Rockwell it more, my 8 year old son and his 5 year old friend, Audrey, held a sweet tea stand, Kool-Aid would just not do. You can really see the kindness in people, when they stop to buy from your children's lemonade, oops, I mean sweet tea stand. They did pretty well. Each made almost $7 apiece. They exclaimed that they were rich. Awww, remember those days?

Okay, so to make a perfect day even more perfect, I made this lovely French Yogurt cake for TWD's weekly baking challenge hosted by Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction. This was my kind of recipe; simple, sweet, and special. I love these recipes, because they are easy to do and finicky kids and adults will eat them, but they are lovely to present as well.

From TWD Yogurt Cake

The recipe calls for inexpensive ingredients and many you will have on hand or can run to the store and buy without feeling guilty for splurging. I made the cake this morning and my family alone devoured it! Not one crumb left.

For this cake, I premade my lemon-infused sugar the night before. I also added almonds to my batter, instead of opting for the extra flour. I just love nutty and sweet desserts. I baked the cake, but had to take it out after 45 minutes, because it had already browned quickly (my oven monster's fault). Next time, I will check after 30 minutes, and if it appears to be browning quickly, I will add a foil tent, as the Great One, Dorie, recommends doing for a regular pound cake or I will try N.O.E's from The Dogs Eat the Crumbs tip of making a parchment sling for loaf cakes.

From TWD Yogurt Cake

Since, I could not find or had the time to make any lemon marmalade, I used a flavor of preserves that I have been using ever since my hubby discovered it for me to use with the Buttery Jam cookies; Apricot Pineapple Preserve. I cut the overly browned crusts from my cake, layered it after it cooled, then filled with cool preserves and topped with a warm preserve glaze and extra ground almonds. I chose a bright and sunny presentation by using sliced lemons and tangelos to border my plated cake. I served the sliced cake with a dollop of plain fat free yogurt with a smidgen of jam in the center and a lemon twist.

From TWD Yogurt Cake

The result was a fresh, tangy, moist, slightly sweet cake that had all the flavors of a sunny perfect day!

Please make sure to go see what the other sunny cake baking TWD'ers created.

Lemon-Scented Granulated Sugar Recipe (I found in my Country Cakes Book by Lisa Yockelson)
Pour 2 pounds granulated sugar into a glass jar. Bury 12 to 16 strips of fresh lemon peel in the sugar and cover the jar tightly. Let sugar stand in a cool, dark place for 1 week, then remove and discard the lemon peel. Add 8 strips of lemon peel that have been air-dried for a day at room temperature (the peel will turn slightly leathery) and bury those in the sugar. Use the sugar, without the peel, for flavoring cake batters, ice cream, mousse mixtures, cookie dough, and drinks (I added this one in).

31 comments:

Heather B said...

I love that your son did a sweet tea stand! How awesome is that?! Your cake looks delicious. Great job!

I'm going to have to do the Lemon-Scented Granulated Sugar Recipe!

Unknown said...

Your cake is beautiful! I love all of your photos.

farah said...

It looks delicious, well done! I love the lemon scented sugar :)

Peggy said...

Wasn't this a great cake? We loved it. Loved the story of the tea stand.

Pamela said...

What fun for your son and his friend! Every time I give my son a quarter, he thinks he can buy all of Target! Too cute! Great job on the cake.

Megan said...

How interesting - lemon granulated sugar! I am definitely going to try that!

Leslie said...

Aww, I love that your son did a sweet tea stand with his friend. Is that precious or what? This cake was yummy. Your photos make me want to reach over take take a bite. Very creative way to overcome the excess browning!

Unknown said...

I think I could eat anything with a french toast flavor any day! This sounds yummy!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous cake! Love the idea of lemon-scented sugar!

Jayne said...

Beautiful photos!

My kids had a lemonade stand during a yard sale we held last summer. I think they made more with that than I did selling our old stuff. And you're right - it's so heartwarming to see that people will stop by your child's lemonade (or sweet tea) stand. A nice reminder of the goodness in most people out there.

Jennifer said...

That looks and sounds delish! and the photos are gorgeous too!

NKP said...

Apricot pineapple preserve sounds great!
Your cake really does look like a sunny day. It is still a little cool here in Canada, but at least it's not snowing!
Thanks for your visits and kind comments on our Tyler Florence Fridays site, feel free to join us if you wish. Our email is on the sidebar of the TFF site.
Cheers,
Natashya

Cathy said...

SO SWEET about your little boy's sweet tea stand. That is the kind of thing that kids remember about their childhood. I think I will need to try a foil tent on this next time. I had some issues, but we loved the cake anyway. Yours looks fabulous!

Anonymous said...

The apricot pineapple preserves sound delicious. I love the way you presented the cake with the citrus slices, it really brightens the dish.

How cute that your kids made and were successful with a tea stand. :)

Unknown said...

This sounds absolutely splendid! I love that the kids were rich with their $7 a piece. That is delightful : ). I would love to make this for our small group tonight. Thank you for your wonderful idea and your sunshine on my cloudy day : ).

Debbie said...

Your photos are always so wonderful! I could make every one of your recipes.

Anne said...

How fun for your son! Your cake looks amazing and perfect for a nice spring day.

Melissa said...

That looks amazing! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Flourchild said...

I love your pictures..what a great cake you made. I loved this recipe!

Mermaid Sews said...

I like your presentation with the yogurt. Thanks for the birthday wishes.

Ivette said...

I think its so cute that your son actually made a sweet tea stand and I'm glad he actually made some cash! Your cake looks wonderful and the apricot pineapple preserve sounds so fancy and yummy! I bet it tasted delicious, way to go!

Erin said...

What a beautiful cake!

Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

I love your lemon-scented sugar idea! That would make it extra tasty!

Christina Kim said...

Thank you so much for visiting and commenting my blog! You are so sweet! I am very new to blogging, and taking a look at your blog, I have a long way to go! Your photos are amazingly beautiful, and as far as I can see, your recipes are fantastic. Thank you again!

TeaLady said...

I remember those days. Selling hot cool aid to the neighborhood. Good times. Good times. And good looking cake. Great job.

Sihan said...

serving it with yogurt with those strips of zest sounds divine. Looks incredible!

Carol Peterman/TableFare said...

Your cake does look like sunshine! We could use more of that up here in the Northwest, maybe I should go make another yogurt cake!

dharmagirl said...

your cake looks delicious!

and, ahhh, sweet tea. pure summer.

Anonymous said...

hi carolina! your cake looks fantastic. i love how you served it with the yogurt and preserves too--what a great way to complement the flavors of the cake.

btw, your video post below was great!

Annette said...

It looks delicious! I liked it with the almonds too. This cake is a keeper!

Liliana said...

Your cake looks delicious. I love the presentation with the citrus fruit! Thanks for sharing your tip about lemon sugar, and thanks for stopping by!